Welcome to City-Data.com Forum!
U.S. CitiesCity-Data Forum Index
Go Back   City-Data Forum > U.S. Forums > Florida > Miami
 [Register]
Miami Miami-Dade County
Please register to participate in our discussions with 2 million other members - it's free and quick! Some forums can only be seen by registered members. After you create your account, you'll be able to customize options and access all our 15,000 new posts/day with fewer ads.
View detailed profile (Advanced) or search
site with Google Custom Search

Search Forums  (Advanced)
Reply Start New Thread
 
Old 09-28-2011, 01:17 PM
 
Location: Miami
31 posts, read 120,933 times
Reputation: 14

Advertisements

I have lived in Miami for the past 3 1/2 years. There are many good things and many bad things that i have experienced since i have lived here. One of the bad things for sure are the people. People here can indeed be nice, and civil. I have found many nice friends here for sure. BUT i have met some of the wost people here. First of all, dating here is a complete nightmare.
I have noticed that some women actually marry foreign men to get paid for getting them a green card. Is this a common pratice here? Do many women here really marry men to do them "favors", then divorce a few year(s) later? Does this happen anywhere else? I may just be naive, and i apologize for that, but this is really surprising to me.
Reply With Quote Quick reply to this message

 
Old 09-28-2011, 01:50 PM
 
Location: north beach
309 posts, read 617,708 times
Reputation: 206
'marrying for papers' is an extremely common practice. Happens in all 50 states. but it's most common where there is a large immigrant population.... places like NYC and Miami especially
Reply With Quote Quick reply to this message
 
Old 09-28-2011, 02:18 PM
 
18,073 posts, read 18,714,846 times
Reputation: 25191
Marrying for papers, because the girl is pregnant, lust, for a place to live, to mooch, for love, for money......many reasons for marriage.
Reply With Quote Quick reply to this message
 
Old 09-28-2011, 02:31 PM
 
Location: north beach
309 posts, read 617,708 times
Reputation: 206
well of course but that wasn't the question. she was specifically asking about the dynamics of 'marrying for papers'

oh, and in most cases it's not done as a favor ... sometimes it is if the people are good friends and the US citizen genuinely wants to help, out of friendship -- but typically there's payment involved. and it goes both ways.... US men also marry foreign women to give them papers as well.
Reply With Quote Quick reply to this message
 
Old 09-28-2011, 02:36 PM
 
Location: Willow Spring and Mocksville
275 posts, read 395,334 times
Reputation: 482
catt6 is right. This sort of thing is very common in Sofla. Many times it's not even for a few years, but just until the person gets their documentation. A number of years ago a female acquaintance of mine in Broward "married" a guy from Lebanon who was living in Miami for that reason. It was one of the most bizarre situations I have ever seen. (And I have a high tolerance for the bizarre.)
I was in Sofla for 20 years until 2008, and I know exactly what you mean. There are nice people, but you have to deal with a lot of other people to find them. I got tired of the aggressive, confrontational attitudes. You can just walk into a Publix and people passing you would stare you down like you flipped them the bird. On the highways people seemed to go out of their way to harass you. many people must feel very powerless in their lives so they need to exert control over strangers or something.
A Deputy Sheriff there told me that he felt that this was because so many people from so many different places were jammed in one place, and they felt no sense of community. There are also a high number of people who are essentially transient, and this contributed to the "me-first" attitude. Not saying this is any worse than in other urban sprawls, but it is what it is.
I feel your pain on the dating scene. I found it to be almost surreal. Most people seemed to be trying to "front", or present themselves as being something they were not. I think this goes back to the transient thing. Many, many people in Sofla are trying to get away from something, even themselves, and the hive of Dade/Broward is a perfect place for them to reinvent themselves. I felt like I was in some weird dating version of Apocalypse Now or Where the Buffalo Roam. I dated a girl in Perrine for a year (I lived in Coral Springs) and it was almost like seeing someone in another state.
It got to the point where I only went to Miami to see a couple of friends there, and when they moved I never went back. It was interesting, though.
Reply With Quote Quick reply to this message
 
Old 09-28-2011, 03:36 PM
 
2,987 posts, read 10,104,765 times
Reputation: 2817
When I was in High School (17 at the time) I went to get my haircut at a Supercuts type place in Westchester. The lady cutting my hair started to ask how old I was and what plans I had after I turned 18 and I'm thinking she is talking about the Army or college so I tell her and then she started talking about some friend of hers who needed to get married and could give me a "graduation" girft of 5,000 and then another gift after she becomes a citizen. I was like wow that is pretty bold haha. Well anyways, this was just one event but yes, I have heard of other cases of people doing this. I know of several Puerto Rican women who do this since they speak Spanish it might seem less conspicous if they marry a Latin person who only speaks Spanish.

In any event, it is rare but it isn't unheard of and the world is a big place with lots of unorthodox stuff going on and the longer you live in diverse places, the more stuff you see. Miami doesn't have a monopoly on this, but it is more common here to due the city being an immigrant gateway. I don't think most people here would be shocked to learn of an "arranged" marriage in this regard.
Reply With Quote Quick reply to this message
 
Old 09-28-2011, 04:09 PM
 
Location: Miami / Florida / U.S.A.
683 posts, read 1,465,038 times
Reputation: 481
Quote:
Originally Posted by ChristinaIUP View Post
I have lived in Miami for the past 3 1/2 years. There are many good things and many bad things that i have experienced since i have lived here. One of the bad things for sure are the people. People here can indeed be nice, and civil. I have found many nice friends here for sure. BUT i have met some of the wost people here. First of all, dating here is a complete nightmare.
I have noticed that some women actually marry foreign men to get paid for getting them a green card. Is this a common pratice here? Do many women here really marry men to do them "favors", then divorce a few year(s) later? Does this happen anywhere else? I may just be naive, and i apologize for that, but this is really surprising to me.
That happens in every country of the world that has a good standard of living, and even in some developing countries with a decent quality of life.
Reply With Quote Quick reply to this message
 
Old 09-29-2011, 10:28 AM
 
Location: Up North
3,426 posts, read 8,881,859 times
Reputation: 3126
I've heard of people paying up to $30,000 for marriage in order to become legal.


When I was 18 and taking driving lessons, my driving instructor told me he had a friend who needed papers and would pay me $6,000 to marry him. I declined.
Reply With Quote Quick reply to this message
 
Old 09-29-2011, 11:56 AM
 
18,073 posts, read 18,714,846 times
Reputation: 25191
I know probably over a dozen people who have engaged in this. I know one right now who is constantly soliciting people to marry her sister to bring her over here.

The common one I have seen is that the unmarriagable gets hooked up, the other person gets a green card. I think now everytime I see some guy married to a girl 20 years or more younger than he, it is a sham marriage. The other side I see up north more is the large white girl married to some Mexican (or other similiar immigrant), the guy must be beyond despirate to stay in the US to do that. The common theme is they all seem to pop a kid out as soon as possible.
Reply With Quote Quick reply to this message
 
Old 09-29-2011, 02:09 PM
 
Location: Eastern Time
4,968 posts, read 10,159,873 times
Reputation: 1431
Marriage has always been done for money, deals and property... "love" is a new concept.
Reply With Quote Quick reply to this message
Please register to post and access all features of our very popular forum. It is free and quick. Over $68,000 in prizes has already been given out to active posters on our forum. Additional giveaways are planned.

Detailed information about all U.S. cities, counties, and zip codes on our site: City-data.com.


Reply
Please update this thread with any new information or opinions. This open thread is still read by thousands of people, so we encourage all additional points of view.

Quick Reply
Message:


Settings
X
Data:
Loading data...
Based on 2000-2020 data
Loading data...

123
Hide US histogram


Over $104,000 in prizes was already given out to active posters on our forum and additional giveaways are planned!

Go Back   City-Data Forum > U.S. Forums > Florida > Miami
Similar Threads
View detailed profiles of:

All times are GMT -6.

© 2005-2024, Advameg, Inc. · Please obey Forum Rules · Terms of Use and Privacy Policy · Bug Bounty

City-Data.com - Contact Us - Archive 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11, 12, 13, 14, 15, 16, 17, 18, 19, 20, 21, 22, 23, 24, 25, 26, 27, 28, 29, 30, 31, 32, 33, 34, 35, 36, 37 - Top